Translator: ryangohsff Editor: Nora
Chapter 891 – Trees Look Like Soldiers
Regarding the Battle of Fei River, why was Fu Jian so anxious and did not wait for the whole army to gather before setting off together?
It was not that he did not want to; rather, there was no way he could.
With the ancient technological standards, what kind of concept was gathering a million people in one place?
Even if one walked on a big road that was relatively wide and could allow 20 people to walk at once, the entire army would take up 50 kilometers of land.
That was a terrifying and uncontrollable situation.
If the million troops proceeded together, the resources would not be able to meet the supply.
The only way was to split up. Fu Jian’s strategy was to split the million troops into a few groups. When the first one fell, the second one would replace it; he wanted to use a human ocean method to push the East Jin army to death.
Fu Jian once said that he had so many troops that he could cut the river flow just by throwing the horse whips into the river. Reality proved that before his second group even had a chance, the war was totally over.
…
Compared to the former Qin that was filled with problems, East Jin before the Battle of Fei River was another different story.
When news of Fu Jian coming down south spread to Jiankang, the East Jin Imperial Court was astonished.
Easy Jin at that time was split into two military powers, one was the Hengchong Army housed in Jingzhou and the other was the north house army defending Zunnan, which was led by Xie Shi and Xie Xuan.
From the direction that Fu Jian was attacking from, the north house army took up the main battle responsibilities.
Xie Xuan was really anxious, and sought help from the number one person in East Jin, Xie An. Xie An was just a polite minister, so he obviously did not have any good ideas. As such, he could only try to cover up by saying, “The Imperial Court has other plans.”
In truth, there was no other plans, and Xie Xuan could only rely on himself.
Heng Chong was also really anxious, and he sent three thousand elite guards to Jiankang. In the end, Xie An said to them, “It’s already settled here; go back to defend the west!”
When Heng Chong heard that, he sighed, “We are finished!”
Seeing that the imperial officials were all going to become prisoners of war, they could not take it and went to look for Xie An. Xie An had no way to handle all of them, so he left to tour. During the day, he did not show himself in Jiankang.
Some people lavished praise on Xie An and said that he played an instrumental and defeated Fu Jian. In truth, this was just people saying random stuff and was far from the truth.
Xie An was already leaving it to the heavens at this rate. Luckily, if he were a prisoner, he would not be at any life threatening risk. Fu Jian treating prisoners well was a tradition, and he had sent word that after he destroyed East Jin, he would give Xie An a good position.
In Chang An City, Fu Jian had built a mansion for him in advance.
Xie An only knew how to act and could not provide any help. Xie Shi and Xie Xuan could only gather all the troops they had and go for an all-out battle with Fu Jian’s army.
In the 10th month, Fu Jian’s vanguard forces crossed the Huai River and attacked Shouyang City. Fu Rong planned to destroy the surrounded Jin army and sent out another 50 thousand troops to Luojian in the east to prevent East Jin reinforcements.
At that point, Fu Jian’s main force was still being gathered and Fu Jian himself was with a portion of his troops in Xiang City.
The surrounded Jin army sent a letter to Xie Xuan for help but, Fu Rong intercepted the letter. Fu Rong happily felt that the end of the Jin army had arrived and immediately told Fu Jian the news.
Fu Jian was on cloud nine when he heard it and immediately led 80 thousand cavalry to Shouyang to gather with Fu Rong. The remaining main force slowly proceeded on the roads.
Xie Xuan and the north house army main force of 70 thousand entered Luo Jian to try to save the trapped Jin army.
However, there were 50 thousand Qin troops standing between them, so the north house army had no choice but to attack. Liu Laozhi under Xie Xuan led five thousand elite troops to sneak attack the Qin army. The Qin army was not prepared and collapsed.
Just like how all other battlefields collapsed, the soldiers were unable to deduce how many enemy troops there were and could not effectively resist. They were just trying to escape.
The general was unable to prevent such a collapse, and they were either killed or captured. In the end, 15 thousand of them died and their supplies and equipment fell into the hands of the Qin army. 50 thousand troops falling under the attacks of five thousand; this was pretty much a premonition of what was going to come.
This failure stunned Fu Jian. For the first time since he set out, he felt fear.
After taking down Luo Jian, the Jin army continued forward to gather with the troops that were surrounded. At this point, the navy and army, a total of 80 thousand, had gathered up and camped at the east of the Fei River.
At this very moment, a key person who decided the outcome of the battle appeared. He was Zhu Xu, who was captured. After he was captured, Fu Jian followed tradition and treated him well.
Zhu Xu was appointed as the ambassador to persuade them to surrender. However, not only did he not do that, but he said to Xie Shi, “Although they have a million troops, they are just gathering. The situation now is different; use the chance that all their men have not arrived to swiftly attack. As long as you can crush their vanguard forces, you can destroy their million men army.”
Xie Shu originally planned on defending but under Zhu Xu’s persuasions, he decided to strike out.
The Fei River was decided as the location where the two armies would go all out.
Fu Jian’s army gathered at the Fei River west shore, right opposite the Jin army. At that time, in the Fujian army, Fu Rong’s forces numbered 250 thousand and Fu Jian brought over 80 thousand troops.
However, Fu Rong sent another 30 thousand troops towards Jingzhou, and he also lost some men in Luo Jian. At the same time, he left some to defend Shouchun. Hence, at the moment, there were truly only 150 thousand former Qin troops.
The Qin army was all elite Di race soldiers and were all gathered in the middle troops commanded by Fu Rong. Apart from that, there were many Han Chinese, Xianbei people, Qiang, and Wuheng people. They did not feel much loyalty toward the former Qin made by the Di Race and came because of fear.
The racial differences added many more complications, and it made commanding much harder. Just language alone was a huge problem, and Fu Rong’s orders needed to be translated into different languages before they could be spread down.
150 thousand men coming from so many different races; without receiving proper training, they were squeezed together on the west coast of the Fei River. Even if a god was their commander, it would be difficult to command them.
Both sides waited solemnly by the river and neither side acted.
Fu Jian and Fu Rong came onto the Shouyang City wall, looking out at the orderly Jin troops opposite them; the enemy had elite soldiers. Then, they looked north at the trees on Bagong mountain, which all looked human shaped.
Fu Jian looked at Fu Rong and said with shock and fear, “The enemy looks strong; we should pay attention!”
This was where the idiom Caomu Jiebing came about. It was to show about that after the defeat at Luo Jian, Fu Jian had already turned from being overconfident to lacking in confidence.
At this very moment, Fu Jian received a letter from Xie Xuan, which suggested the Former Qin forces retreat slightly west to allow the Jin troops to cross the Fei River so that the two armies could engage.
Xie Xuan wanted to fight a quick battle. Based on the plan, he would lead eight thousand elite troops across the river. If the situation was smooth, the following forces could cross and launch a large scale attack. If the movement failed, the main force could handle the aftermath.
Most Former Qin generals opposed this plan because maneuvering such a large army like that was too complicated for the potential benefits, especially with so many poorly trained troops. However, Fu Jian and Fu Rong felt that they should wait till the enemy was halfway across before getting the cavalry to charge at them. After all, wouldn’t they win just like that?
Hence, Fu Jian ordered the troops to retreat.
Fu Jian’s idea seemed good. The Qin army was using cavalry to face the Jin army crossing the river, so they had a huge advantage in terms of strategy.
However, he had missed out on one point; he did not have the ability to make his army retreat orderly. He only considered the enemy and did not realize that there were even more dangerous enemies in the 150 thousand beside him.
The moment the retreat order was given, a huge chaotic scene ensued.
It was not hard to imagine how a normal soldier would feel during this retreat.
A person in the middle of 150 thousand people; looking out, he was surrounded by a human ocean. He had always lived in the north. Even in his dreams, he would not think that he would come to the Fei River.
He knew that a bloody battle was about to start, and he would most probably die at this place. He did not know the extent of the opposing Jin army’s strength.
However, in the Luo Jian battle not long ago, he heard that many of his people had died.
Thinking of this, one would obviously be really nervous. The crowd would not only help him. Instead, they would make him more nervous.
Fear could be spread amongst people, and it would grow.
He might not understand the words of some generals, even those that spoke in the same language. He could listen in, but he could not get the meaning of the words. The general said, “Back off 500 meters to let the Jin army cross the river; then charge back to fight them and chase them into the river.”
This idea was too complex for him. Furthermore, the general might not have given him such specific details. All he knew was to retreat, but he did not know why.
Okay, so everyone turned around and walked.
They knew that the Jin army was behind them and could charge at them at any moment. Such an idea made them feel endangered. One could imagine that some people quickened their footsteps.
Those who were further behind walked even faster.
They had wife and kids and really did not want to die here, so they obviously walked quicker. Seeing the people around you walk quicker, everyone started to feel even more afraid.
This was a negative cycle. If this continued, everyone would end up just running. Logically speaking, there should be something external to stop this, namely the generals and commanders.
However, facing such a complex and chaotic organization, the generals could not deal with it. There were no communication methods apart from flags and horns.
The basic level generals and Advanced Generals could not keep in contact. Along with the language barrier, the situation became even worse.
The basic generals did not understand what was going on. Did the Jin army attack? Have we already lost? Are we backing off, or are we retreating in defeat?
When this chaotic scene spread, even the commanders could not control it. The fear was endless, and 150 thousand people competed against one another as they started to run.
On this premise, the Xie Xuan forces had started to cross the river.
When Fu Rong saw that the situation had gotten out of control, he tried to maintain order. Unfortunately, he ran too quickly and was knocked off his horse, losing his mount and being killed by the Jin army.
The Jin army did not face any resistance after they crossed. Before them was the Qin army running in all directions.
Why would Xie Xuan hesitate? He immediately gave the order to chase.
The Qin army ran all the way. No one could stop them, and those who fell were stepped on.
These soldiers did not even rest during the night, continuing to run day and night. When they heard any random sounds, they would think that it was the Jin army troops chasing them.
At this point, the 150 thousand troops of former Qin broke apart.
Fu Jian was also shot. The scene was really chaotic, and no one cared about his life or death. Fu Jian rode his horse and went to Huaibei himself.
The Jin army obtained tens of thousands of horses and hundreds of thousands of cows, sheep, and mules.
Fu Jian’s army collapsed without engaging the enemy, and the reason was just them retreating. Such a scene baffled modern day commanders.
But in those times, the truth was as such.
When the sun went up, there were 150 thousand former Qin soldiers on the west shore. When the sun set, there were no more, and the sun only shone on the corpses that were trampled on.
The fate of the former Qin set along with the setting sun.
The soldiers who did not reach the Fei River dispersed upon hearing about the defeat. The 800 thousand army gathered was not even sent to the batt;efield.
Fu Jian’s trip called upon the entire empire, but he gained nothing from it. Instead, many of the fallen soldiers joined the rebellion against him.
The beast swallowed by the snake was not digested and had now torn the stomach apart. The Xianbei rebellion army established the later Yan Empire and the Qiang Race established the later Qin empire.
Fu Jian, who had never doubted others, was betrayed by those he trusted. He could only give up on Guanzhong and retreat to Gansu.
Not long later, he was murdered by Yao Chang. 20 years earlier, Yao Chang was going to be beheaded but East Sea Prince Fu Jian saved him.
It was like fate playing a joke on him.
At that time, it was a short two years since Fu Jian ambitiously wanted to conquer East Jin.
At the brink of death, did he think about what had happened at the Fei River? At his brightest moment, he had lost the protection of luck.
All this was like a dream.